ACTIONS IN REM, IN PERSONAM & QUASI IN REM
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[1] An action in rem is one instituted and enforced against the whole world.
[2] An action in personam is one filed against a definite defendant. It is intended to subject the interest of defendant on a property to an obligation or lien.
In actions in personam, jurisdiction over the person (defendant) is required. It is a proceeding to enforce personal rights and obligations brought against the person, and is based on the jurisdiction of the person, although it may involve his right to, or the exercise of ownership of, specific property, or seek to compel him to control or dispose of it in accordance with the mandate of the court. The purpose is to impose through the judgment of a court, some responsibility or liability directly upon the person of the defendant. No other than the defendant is liable, not the whole world, as in an action for a sum of money or an action for damages.
[3] An action quasi in rem, also brought against the whole world, is one brought against persons seeking to subject the property of such persons to the discharge of the claims assailed. An individual is named as defendant and the purpose of the proceeding is to subject his interests therein to the obligation or loan burdening the property. It deals with status, ownership or liability or a particular property but which are intended to operate on these questions only as between the particular parties to the proceedings and not to ascertain or cut off the rights or interests of all possible claimants. Examples of actions quasi in rem are action for partition, action for accounting, attachment, foreclosure of mortgage.
[4] An action in personam is not necessarily a personal action. Nor is a real
action necessarily an action in rem. An in personam or an in rem action is a
classification of actions according to foundation. For instance, an action to
recover title to or possession of real property is a real action, but it is an
action in personam, not brought against the whole world but against the person
upon whom the claim is made.
[5] The distinction is important to determine whether or not jurisdiction
over the person of the defendant is required and consequently to determine
the type of summons to be employed. Jurisdiction over the person of the
defendant is necessary for the court to validly try and decide a case
against said defendant where the action is one in personam but not where the
action is in rem or quasi in rem.
[6] An action in personam is lodged against a person based on personal
liability; an action in rem is directed against the thing itself instead
of the person; while and an action quasi in rem names a person as
defendant, but its object is to subject that person‘s interest in a
property to a corresponding lien or obligation. A petition directed
against the ―thing‖ itself or the res, which concerns the status of a
person, like a petition for adoption, annulment of marriage, or correction
of entries in the birth certificate, is an action in rem (Lucas vs.
Lucas).
[7] An action for injunction is in personam since it can be enforced
only against the defendant therein (Dial Corp. vs. Soriano).